1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to a composite aircraft comprising, in combination, a gas containment bag filled with lighter than air gas and wing components mounted on said aircraft to provide forces to augment or oppose aerostatic lift when said wing components ae propelled through the air by virtue of engines mounted thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The need for aircraft capable of vertically lifting heavy weights is widespread and currently only partially met by helicopters which are limited to slingloads under 20 tons and are very expensive to operate. The herein disclosed invention offers a solution to the problem of ultra-heavy lift with adequate control and vehicle speed.
Previous attempts to solve this problem of ultra-heavy lift have included hybrid vehicles such as the aerocrane as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,236. This particular concept involves a vehicle with an essentially vertical axis that uses a large spherical centerbody with wings that act as helicopter rotors when the entire vehicle is rotated by virtue of engines and propellers mounted on the rotor blades. One of the major limitations on the forward speed of said vehicle is the advance ratio of the rotor, where the retreating blade airspeed must be maintained at a value so as to produce adequate lift, and thus the forward speed of the vehicle is limited by vehicle rotation.
The forward speed of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is not limited by vehicle rotation as said embodiment provides for nonrotating forward flight and also allows for translation under complete control while neutrally bouyant. These operations, i.e., control under neutral bouyancy and non-rotating flight, are not possible with the aircraft disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,236.
Prior attempts to utilize a system of rotating airfoils to generate thrust vectors range from successful systems like the helicopter to efforts to rotate airfoil systems projecting from the aircraft in place of normal fixed wings such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,633,311.